Alter Eco Chocolate Bars (and quinoa) are organically grown, fairly traded, hand cultivated, Non GMO, and Carbon Zero Certified.
We sampled a variety of Alter Eco’s products, including:
Dark Quinoa (60%): This chocolate has nutty toasted quinoa and a nice flavor and crunch. Plus, Quinoa is healthy, right? This is the Alter Eco bar both “S” and I kept reaching for, so is our favorite of the Alter Eco bars. While we are mentioning quinoa, We’ve also tried Alter Eco’s Organic Royal Red Quinoa and Organic Royal Black Quinoa, both of which are nutty, flavorful, and delicious, so we are not surprised that they did such a good job on the Dark Quinoa bar.
Dark Mint (60%): This one is bold, brisk, a little crispy, and has a nice mint flavor. This one is my second favorite Alter Eco bar.
Dark Cacao (63% cocoa): This one has cocoa nibs and is crunchy with a bittersweet bite. They definitely did a great job on the texture and flavor of this one.
Dark Twist (60%). I agree with Alter Ego that this bar (which features crystallized orange peel) is vibrant and tangy. This is a “go to” bar for me, but I do love combinations of chocolate and citrus.
Dark Blackout (85%): This bar is dark, deep, and fruity, and not as strong as I expected at 85% cocoa. I enjoyed it much more than I would have expected.
Dark Noir (60% cocoa): This is their standard dark chocolate, and is dark, rich, and a bit sweet and smooth.
Dark Velvet (47% cocoa: has a touch of milk and is velvety smooth): This one is a little mild for my taste.
Dark Almond (60%): This bar has a great chocolate flavor, but does not have the almond flavor I expect from this combination.
A note about fiber in the Alter Eco bars: Th Dark Blackout is the clear winner in the fiber wars with 5 grams of fiber per serving. The Dark Cacao and the Dark Almond have 4 grams of fiber per serving. The Dark Quinoa and Dark Twist have 3 grams of fiber per serving, while the Dark Velvet only has 2 grams.
We also got to sample a few of Zoe’s Chocolate Company‘s products. Zoe’s is based in both Frederick, MD and Waynesboro, PA. Their truffles arrived packaged nicely in a small brown pack with a pink ribbon.
The ZCC Cafe Truffle‘s gnache filling has a nice creamy texture, and is definitely good quality chocolate. ZCC describes this truffle as “Dark chocolate ganache infused with freshly roasted Greek blend coffee beans enrobed in creamy milk chocolate.”
Zoe’s Sports Bar.
The Dionysus Baklava Truffle is like chocolate covered baklava, and has good texture that is both soft and crunchy; this is definitely a truffle I could just keep reaching for. ZCC describes it as “Creamy Greek honey combined with roasted walnuts and baklava spice, dipped in chocolate, and rolled in a blend of nuts & spice.”
The clear winner in the ZCC products was the Sports Bar, which has a great combination of chocolaty, peanutty, sweet, and salty flavors; this is a delicious and chocolate bar that also has great texture. The bar unfortunately is basically shrinkwrap sealed, so it is not packaged in a manner where it can be easily opened or resealed. ZCC’s description of the Sports Bar is below:
“Our Sports Bar was the all time favorite for the world leaders to get a taste of an all-American traditional pastime, the big game. Crispy puffed caramelized popcorn-like rice crisps mixed into luscious dark chocolate and topped with carefully roasted honeyed peanuts. A little salty and a little sweet.”
Expect more product reviews from DCFüd this summer since I will be attending the Fancy Food Show in New York City later this month.
-JAY
